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Exercises · 9.28

Q.Describe the usefulness of water in biosphere and biological systems.

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Water is indispensable to the biosphere and to biological systems in multiple interconnected ways:

  • Universal biological solvent: its high polarity lets it dissolve a huge range of nutrients, salts, gases and metabolites, enabling their transport within organisms — e.g., as blood plasma in animals or sap in plants.
  • Reaction medium and direct reactant: most biochemical reactions occur in an aqueous medium; water is also a direct reactant, e.g., in photosynthesis (6CO2+6H2O→lightC6H12O6+6O26CO_2 + 6H_2O \xrightarrow{light} C_6H_{12}O_6 + 6O_2) and in the hydrolysis of food macromolecules (proteins, starches, fats) during digestion.
  • Temperature regulation: water's high specific heat capacity and high latent heat of vaporisation allow organisms to buffer against rapid temperature changes and cool themselves efficiently (e.g., sweating, transpiration).
  • Structural role: water maintains the turgidity (rigidity) of plant cells via osmotic pressure, and forms a major fraction of the mass of living cells and tissues. …

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